The Vampire Diaries Season 5: Why Damon Needs to Stop Being So Whiny

Over the past few episodes of The Vampire DiariesDamon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) has been more sap than snark. Don’t get us wrong, we love when Damon shows a little vulnerability, but this is veering uncomfortably close to whiny territory. We’re ready for Damon to buck up and become a productive part of the team again. Here’s why Damon needs to stop the whining ASAP.

Stefan is the brooder.

TVD only works if it is balanced. Generally, Stefan is the brooder, and Damon is the doer. One brother, a man of the intensely furrowed brow, another, a man of action. Sometimes, they switch it up — but they never go full-on brood at the same time. If both of them are whining, the show just doesn’t work. TVD will implode in on itself. And, right now, Stefan definitely has the corner on legitimate reasons for whining. His girlfriend broke up with him for his brother, he was trapped in an underwater vault for three months, and suffered through temporary amnesia only to have the terrible, awful memories of his immortal life piled back on. Let’s give Stefan a few more episodes, eh Damon?

He has Elena!

In this sneak peek for the 100th episode, Matt delivers this awesome line in reaction to the Delena breakup: “Who spends two years pining after a girl to dump her?” And we totally agree. Self-pity can be an interesting character trait to explore — heck, Klaus has made a career of it — but not when a character has little or no reason to feel sorry for himself relative to the day before. We know, we know: Damon left his bestie Enzo to burn, but that was more than 60 years ago! Hasn’t he had enough time to process that? Right now, Damon is at the relative top of his game, at least as far as we can tell from what we’ve seen of the last 150 years in flashback. Best of all: he has the woman of his dreams. Granted, a successful romantic relationship isn’t everything, but it’s something. Embrace it, dude, and stop feeling sorry for yourself.

It’s inconsistent with his character.

The strangest thing about Damon’s whining isn’t so much that he is feeling sorry for himself (because that’s not so new), but just how that self-pity is manifesting itself. In the past, Damon has taken out his intense guilt and misery on other people’s necks, which is why this particular manifestation of his feels is so inconsistent with this character. We’re all for character development — we suppose it shows growth that Damon isn’t snapping necks and killing his loved ones’ loved ones — just make it organic. Is Damon’s whining instead of killing people part of his attempts to make amends for all of the wrong he’s done in the past? OK, just make that motivation clear. Right now, whining feels way out in left field for this character we know and love!

Do you think Damon has been too whiny in recent TVD episodes, or do you think it works for his character? Sound off in the comments below!

The Vampire Diaries airs on Thursdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Kayti Burt is a contributing writer for Wetpaint Entertainment with a penchant for all things pop culture. Follow her on Twitter and Google+!